Podtacular’s Fiesta Frenzy Tournament

Welcome to Podtacular’s first tournament mixing the format of competitive Halo with the frantic game play of Super Fiesta! We are excited to give Halo 5: Guardians one last hurrah in partnership with ForgeHub before we’re all off playing Halo Infinite. Below you will find the information and the rules of the tournament. Please read them carefully then click the button to sign up here.

Tournament Rules

TOURNAMENT DATES AND TIMES

  • The tournament starts at Saturday, November 13th at Noon EST (9AM PST, 5PM GMT) and Sunday, November 14th at 1PM EST (10AM PST, 6PM GMT) if necessary to finish the tournament. It is expected all teams are ready at these times to start the first games of the day. Teams should expect to play for a possible eight (8) hours on Day 1 and the remainder of the tournament on Day 2.
  • Podtacular may cancel the tournament in case of insufficient number of teams/participants or other unforeseen events that would render the tournament organizers unable to run the event.

BRACKET FORMAT

  • The Fiesta Frenzy Tournament will run a single elimination bracket up to the quarter finals start as pool play to determine the top 4 (four) teams. The final eight (8) teams will transition into a double elimination bracket for the remainder of the tournament.
  • During the single elimination bracket pool play and the quarter final matches, games will be played best of five (5). Semi-finals, losers bracket finals, and grand final will be played best of seven (7). Each match-up is considered a new “best of” set of games.
  • If a game ends in a tie, the map must be replayed until a winner is determined.
  • Brackets will be released no later than five (5) days before the tournament start and communicated to team captains via Xbox Live messages.

TEAM REGISTRATION

  • Registration is open immediately and will closed one week before the tournament start on November 6th, at 9:00PM EDT (6:00PM PDT, 2AM BST (next day)) or when a maximum number of teams have registered.
  • The tournament will have a MINIMUM of eight (8) teams required to be registered for the tournament to take place and will allow for a MAXIMUM of thirty-two (32) teams.
  • Team captains will register the entire team and must provide the gamer tags of their teammates that they will be playing on. Players on other gamertags no registered for the tournament will not be permitted and the team will be disqualified.
  • Teams are permitted to have one substitute player on standby during the tournament that may be substituted for any player, including the team captain. If the team captain is substituted, a new team captain must be identified to the tournament organizers for ongoing communication and match reporting. A MAXIMUM of one (1) substitution is allowed. Once a substitution is made, no further substitutions are allowed. The substitute player must finish the tournament.
  • There are no restrictions to what players may register. This is an open tournament, regardless of your past tournament experience or placings or participation in the Fiesta Frenzy Forge Contest.

MATCH READY TIMES

  • Matches will start within 20 minutes after previous matches have been completed for both teams. This means teams have a MAXIMUM of twenty (20) minutes to be ready for their next match once messages have been sent to the team captain from the tournament organizers. If a team is not ready, do not have all four players available, the match will be considered forfeit from the team not ready and will either be eliminated from the tournament or enter the losers bracket, depending on the current state of the tournament.
  • It is the team captain’s responsibility to organize their team members and ensure they join their team’s matches. If players are not available, a substitution can be made for a missing player if a substitute was registered and hasn’t been made yet or lose the match (set of games).

GAME SETTINGS

  • Use the appropriate maps and game types indicated in the bracket. If a game starts with the incorrect map or game mode and one team realizes the error within the first two minutes of play, the game may be stopped, map and/or game mode corrected and restarted. Players should stop moving and crouch to indicate a possible issue. If two minutes have elapsed and the game played with the wrong setting, the game results will stand and the game will not be replayed.
  • Game settings links to Halo Waypoint files will be specified on the bracket and communicated to team captains when the bracket is announced.
  • Playing with mouse and keyboard, XIM adapter, or any external input device that is not a standard game controller is prohibited. Podtacular reserves the right to disqualify any teams suspected to have players using any type of device that is not a standard game controller or other controller typically used in tournament console play.
  • The higher seeded team ALWAYS hosts first map, and the other team chooses color. After the first map, teams alternate host and color choosing.

COMMUNICATION AND SCORE REPORTING

  • All tournament communication will be handled via Xbox Live messages between the tournament organizers and the designated team captains. This includes bracket information, notices for next matches, reporting scores, etc.
  • Tournament organizers will be announced before the tournament via Xbox Live messages to team captains and on stream. Designated tournament organizers can be found by typing !refs in our Twitch chat.
  • Format of score report: Match Number: Winning Team (Score) – Losing Team (Score). Example of a valid score report: 4: Team Frag 75 – Team Truck 23. Matches will be verified on Halo Waypoint.
  • To access a tournament bracket, type !bracket at in the Twitch chat or go to https://podtacular.com/fiesta-frenzy-bracket. Also refer to the image attached to this section.

DISCONNECTIONS / LAGGING OUT

  • If a player disconnects or lags out, the game must be stopped and the match restarted maintaining the remaining time and score at the time of the disconnection. Its recommended players stop moving and crouch to indicate a possible issue. If scores cannot be determined, the map must be replayed.
  • The MAXIMUM of two (2) disconnections are allowed. If a disconnection happens after that, the affected team will lose the map.
  • If the affected player cannot reconnect to play, the game will be ended and their team will lose the map.
  • If the affected player cannot reconnect to play their next rounds, their team must either put in their substitute if registered and has not been substituted yet, or will lose the match (full set of games).

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

  • In case of having any problems or need assistance in resolving match disputes, please contact one of the designated tournament organizers. After agreeing to an organizer’s decision, it is assumed the decision is final and cannot be changed.

WINNINGS DISTRIBUTION

  • Any earnings made by your team during the tournament will be made via PayPal.
  • Payment can be made individually to team members or sent to the team captain who will distribute it among the winning players. In the case of a substitution being made, the team captain will inform the tournament organizers how to divide up the earnings if winnings are sent individually.
  • PayPal information must be sent to the tournament organizers once standings are determined to receive winnings.